Reading can be very interesting
by fishy girly
Summary: I know this is a little over used, but I got a really good idea! Some demigods get sent into the past a little ways to read the thoughts of our very own Percy Jackson...
1. Chapter 1-And it all begins

**Hey everyone! this is my first fanfiction... so tell me if you liked it!**

**Percy Jackson**

**Thalia's POV**

"Annabeth?" I called out concerned. Annabeth was sitting in the Poseidon cabin, on Percy's bed to be exact. It hurt for me to see her like this. She is such a strong girl who doesn't like let her emotions show. After that war and all of her quests it was amazing that she was still sane. Now it looks like she has reached her breaking point. Percy, my cousin finally asked her out, and everything was great for a couple of months before Hera decided to kidnap him, erase his memory, and send him to some hostile Roman camp on the other side of the country.

She looked up at me, wiping the tears out of her eyes.

"I miss him so much, oh Thalia how do you know that he's all right? He could be dead for all I know, thanks to the queen b-"

I stopped her before she could go on.

"Annabeth, Percy's strong. Any ways, I will kick his butt if he dares to even think about forgetting you. You're his wise girl. You're too special for him to forget."

She smiled sadly and I gave her a hug. In her hands she was holding a picture frame. I knew it was Percy's favorite picture because he had a copy of it everywhere. It showed Annabeth, a very beautiful, smart, strong, daughter of Athena holding hands with Percy, a funny, hot, and heroic, impulsive son of Poseidon.

They were eating ice cream walking down a beautiful beach, a beach that looked like it belonged on the front of a postcard.

"Annabeth? Thalia?" a voice called out hesitantly. In walked Piper, a daughter of Aphrodite. She sat down on the other side of Annabeth, rubbing her back comfortingly.

"Hey, Rachel says he is all right, so that has got to count her something." She smiled a little bit and let out a short laugh. "Besides, my mom would never let anything happen to her favorite couple, would she?"

Before either of us could answer to that we were engulfed in a bright light.

**Leo's POV**

"synx," I murmured as I missed the nail and got my finger instead.

"Hey Leo!" a voice called out. I turned my head to see my best bud Jason waving down below.

"Why are you upside down?" I asked him curiously.

He snorted. "You are idiot Leo. Come take a break and help me find Piper and the others"

"You just want to see Piper, your girly friend" I said in a teasing voice, climbing down from the front of the Argo 2 where I had been working. As soon as my feet hit the ground a bright light surrounded me.

**Poseidon's POV**

I sighed. Things weren't going so great at this year's winter solstice meeting. It seemed like half of the council was biting my ear off about my newfound son, Percy Jackson. Well technically it was only, Zeus, Athena and Ares, but they all had such big mouths it didn't really matter.

"Are you even listening?" Athena snapped, irritated. Mentally I sighed.

"I don't get why it is such a huge deal to you all. Zeus broke the deal first, and he did return the stupid lightning bolt, didn't he?"

"Well I for one-" we never got to hear what Apollo was about to say, because right about than a bright light filled up the room.

**Please Review:)**


	2. Chapter 2- what's going on?

**Hazel's POV**

Before that flash of light, things were going pretty good. Frank asked me out, (finally!) we convinced the Senate to not murder the Greeks on sight… just one more problem.

Frank and I set out, determined to find our missing friend. Now that a lot of the excitement was gone and done with after the battle, Percy had gotten a little depressed and worried.

"What if they don't care about me any more when they get here? What if they had forgotten me completely? I mean, it's been like nine months." he asked as we plopped down on either side of him. He was staring out across the Little Tiber, fiddling with his pen- which by the way is very effective for killing monsters and probably difficult Romans by the name of Octavian…

I sighed, sympathetically. "Percy, you are by far one of the most loveable guys here. Goodness, you managed to become Praetor in a week! Reyna has even accepted you, which is no small feat."

"You did kill a giant, and drowned a ghost army an-"I cut Frank off.

"What he is trying to say, is that you have been with them for forever, they can't and won't forget you that easily."

He managed a small smile.

"Thanks guys, I really needed that." He paused, and then as he was about to say something else we were swallowed up by a bright light.

**On Olympus**

My first thought was that Death decided that it was time for me to die, and was taking me back to the underworld. "Deep breaths," I told myself as I came to a sudden halt. I opened my eyes, expecting to see the judges again, but instead I was greeted by a far different sight.

I was in what I think is the Olympians' throne room. Spread out in front of their huge- and very odd- thrones were several heaps of confused looking demigods.

"Can you get off of me please?" a voice asked underneath me.

"Oops, sorry Frank," I replied as I got off, not really paying any attention to him. I was busy taking in the sight of all of the gods-in Greek form- who were looking back at us in either confusion or distaste.

"WHO DARES DISRUPT OUR MEETING?!" Zeus thundered, looking ready to bite someone's head off.

"You mean, you don't recognize us?" a very pretty blonde girl asked him from the other side of the throne room. Off handedly I thought he looked a little bit like the Annabeth Percy had been telling us lots about.

Someone gasped off to my other side.

"Annabeth is that you? How is this possible? You are only twelve right now!" she exclaimed, a shocked look covering her face.

"What is this Athena doesn't know something," Apollo, or who I assumed was Apollo, said highly amused.

"Apollo, this is serious! Children, what year are you from?" We were all to stunned to answer, so she figured it out her self.

"Hmm, lets see, Annabeth, you look about what, 16? 17? Oh, it doesn't matter, so you guys must have traveled about four years into the past"

By now everyone had stood up, some looking around a little wary.

Before any one could respond, there was another bright light, which deposited a stack of books and a note.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Someone go read that note!" Zeus said grumpily. A very beautiful girl stepped up to grab the note. She had choppy brown hair, kaleidoscope looking eyes, and managed to still look stunning.

"A daughter of Venus," I thought, as I watched her walk to the front.

She picked up the note, and in a very clear voice read, "Dear Olympians and future demigods, we-being the fates- decided that in order for the two different camps to understand each other, you shall read these books. They are in the point of view of a very revered and important demigod, who goes by the name of Percy Jackson." There was a stunned pause at this point. She read on, "The first five books are about his main and most important five quests, the last three are about your current situation demigods. There shall be no killing or hurting during the period that these books are read, and time is frozen out side of these few rooms. You are now to introduce yourselves demigods. ~the Fates"

Next she picked up the books. "Um, well, the first book on the stack says, 'Percy Jackson's and the Olympians: the Lightning Thief" does that sound right?" she asked turning to the people standing behind her. One of them, a twin I think, nodded at her.

"Since I am already up here, I guess I will introduce myself first. I am Piper Mclean, daughter of Aphrodite." Piper smiled at her mom, who grinned happily back at her.

"You look so beautiful hunny," She blushed at the compliment. After that others started to come up and introduce them selves.

There was Conner, Travis, Annabeth, Leo-the Sammy look alike- Thalia, Rachel, a centaur named Chiron, Reyna, Frank of course, me, and Jason, Nico thank gods- I think I acted a little dramatic at this point, running up and hugging him, and Clarisse.

"Who wants to read first?" Poseidon asked kindly. He defiantly reminded me of Percy. He had the sea green eyes, raven black hair… Before any one could answer there was a third bright light.

"I swear, if there are one more of these surprises," someone muttered angrily. This one however, left the biggest surprise…


	3. Chapter 3- Someone new arrives

**Hey everyone! Sorry it took so long! I just have so much going on right now... I realized that I forgot the disclaimer. So for the record i own nothing! And if you are wondering who does... It is the great Rick Riordan!**

**Thalia's POV**

After everyone got over the fact we can all add time travelers to our title, there was another bright light. I was really sick of all of the surprises, so I wasn't too interested on who or what it was. That is, until I heard the voices.

"Ha! Take that Seaweed Brain!" said a younger version of Annabeth, after hitting someone on the back of the head with a pillow.

"Oh, it is on! Hiya!" cried the other voice and dove at Mini Annabeth with his pillow. It went on like this for several seconds, and it seemed like it would go on like this forever without them noticing. Finally Chiron decided to take action.

"Children!" he called out scolding them. They immediately stepped apart and simultaneously replied, "Sorry Chiron!" I saw Mini Percy whisper something to mini Annabeth and she replied with a nudge of an elbow. So of course Percy had to reply in kind. Chiron, seeing where this was going stopped them by saying, "show respect to the gods' children," That defiantly made them stop.

Bowing, MA- mini Annabeth- asked why they were here. Chiron looked uncomfortable. "Well, um, you see-"he was cut off by Travis, who decided to be really blunt.

"You guys, we traveled back in time to read about all of Percy's quests." They had mixed reactions to that.

"Did you say many, as in multiple?" MA asked at the same time MP replied, "That is so cool! Does that mean you are all like, 'first one on the moon' or something?" he said that while pretending to be walking on the moon.

MA sighed in frustration, "no you kelp head, they traveled back in time, and they didn't magically transport themselves to the moon in the past"

He frowned. "That would be really cool though, wouldn't you think? Well, you might not get any credit but-"MA put a hand over is mouth.

"Anyways," she started drawing out the word, "Who are all of you people?" As we all introduced our selves their eyes grew steadily larger and larger. When I said my name, MA bolted over to me, and gave me a hug that rivaled Tyson's.

"I missed you so much!" she cried. "How are you not a tree any more?" Several demigods looked confused at that. I let out a small chuckle.

"Actually Percy here managed to retrieve the Golden Fleece."

"Percy did that?" Piper asked. I nodded.

"And lots more" MP had a look of awe on his face as he heard that.

"Oh! Do you have a picture of him? I bet he is hot!" Aphrodite squealed. Annabeth from our time had managed to compose herself while we were introducing everyone again. She stepped forward.

"Actually I have a picture right here." She handed the picture to Aphrodite a bit hesitantly, waiting to see her reaction.

"O my GOSH! He is so HOT!" Mini Percy was blushing beat red at the statement, but he walked over to Aphrodite to get a good look at his future self.

"Man! I look like a stink'n super hero!" Immediately he clamped a hand over his mouth, muttering something about having ADHD.

After they had passed the picture around to everyone, Zeus decided to step up.

"Well, were going to be here forever if someone doesn't start reading!"

With that Poseidon started the book.

**Chapter One: I ACCIDENTALLY VAPORIZE MY PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER**

"You did what?" Conner asked snickering. MP rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh ya, she was sort of creepy," he said hesitantly. At this comment several people started laughing.

**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**

"Here, here" somebody muttered. The gods looked sheepish at this.

** If your reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: **

"Percy is giving advice!? Duck and cover!" The older demigods who have know Percy for forever- like me- laughed at this. Hazel, a Roman, looked confused.

"Percy is great at giving advice. What are you guys talking about?" she looked so genuinely confused, I smirked.

"Just you wait. When we get farther into the books you will see what I mean."

"Hey! I take offence to that" grumbled mini Percy. This caused MA to let out a snort.

"I just got back from a quest with you, and I agree whole heartedly to that statement."

**close this book right now. Believe whatever lie you mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**

"Would you look at that, semi normal advice"

** Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

Most demigods winced at this. Some just nodded glumly.

"Is it really that bad?" a lot of the gods thought as they watched their reactions.

** If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think its fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

"Why would a mortal be reading this?" I thought out loud.

"Hey, Thalia, you're looking at a mortal right here." Rachel said waving her hand.

"That's not what I meant"

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before ****_they_**** sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

"What do you think would happen if a mortal were to read this, and then go out and find camp half blood?" Apollo questioned. Hermes shrugged.

"We could always make it seem like a dream, or erase their memories, maybe make them pay us or-"Athena cut him off.

"Just keep going."

**Don't say I didn't warn you.**

"You didn't!" most people yelled at mini Percy, who after suddenly being put in the spot light got a faint redish tinge to his cheeks. "Well last time I checked, I didn't think you were going to be reading all of my thoughts." As he said this, the full meaning of those words hit him. He groaned.

"Oh great this is going to be terrible!"

"Tell me about it. That means I have to relive all that we just went through a couple of weeks ago." The older Annabeth let out a small laugh.

"Sorry kiddo, it doesn't get any easier, but you and Percy become great friends."

MA, getting the meaning behind these words blushed a little bit. MP however was on a completely different chain of thought.

"Hey, why do you all look so sad when ever future me is mentioned? Why am I not here right now but older Annie is here?" Nobody answered his questions, though some were a little bit amazed that he had picked up on something as trivial as their facial expressions, considering how freaky this might all be.

**My name is Percy Jackson.**

**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid?**

Nico snorted. "Are you even asking us that? Really Perce?" Mini Percy looked really down at that statement. I put myself in his position. Some people he had just barely met were telling him he was a troubled kid.

"Lay off guys," I started. Then I turned to MP, "You are a pretty interesting kid though."

**Yeah. You could say that.**

"He even agrees with us" Leo, Conner and Travis snickered.

**I could start at any point in my short miserable-**

"Wait what? Your life already stunk?" I asked. Zeus was getting a little annoyed- I mean super annoyed- and sent a glare out at all of us, daring some one to answer me. Poseidon wisely decided to continue.

** life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan—twenty-eight mental-case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**

**I know—it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were.**

**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

"Is that Chiron?" Travis asked before quickly slapping a hand over his mouth. Chiron, however, smiled kindly.

"Yes that is me. Remember when I had to leave camp for a couple months?" Travis along with several other demigods nodded in remembrance.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**

**Boy was I wrong.**

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary war cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway. **

There was a brief silence before everyone started laughing.

"Are you serious?" someone asked in between short bursts of giggles. MP still looking a bit uncomfortable nodded. Taking pity on him I pulled him over to me.

"Oh, come on little cuz. Relax! Everyone here is your friends." I smiled a bit, my gaze softening. With those words his whole face lit up.

"Are you serious? This is totally awesome!" And then to my surprise, he quickly snuggled up to my side. It was only then that I noticed how small and under fed he was. I frowned. Sally was a great cook, why would he be under fed?

**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that…Well, you get the idea.**

**This trip, I was determined to be good.**

**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

"Grover was your best friend that soon?" MP nodded before he added softly,

"He was my first real friend ever… now I have like, six friends!" He looked so over joyed by this fact that it broke everyone's hearts. Well almost everyone I amended as I looked over at Ares who didn't look to happy about something.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated.**

**He must have been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**

"Seriously Grover? Way to loose your cover!"

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**

"**I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

"**That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**

"How did you manage to do that?" Conner asked, pretending to be amazed, "Percy can be stubborn!"

"**You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"Percy! Why would you hit a girl? Talk about rude!" MA huffed and crossed her arms.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a****_stele_****, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

"Are you psychic? That would be really cool," Leo commented as Piper face palmed her self.

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

"That is just, wow Grover. Wow" I said surprised that Grover would say that. I guess Grover really grew up and matured on those few quests before I got there.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you just ****_shut up?"_**

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

"**Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**

**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**

**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

"Percy recognized it without Annabeth there to tell him? It's a miracle!" Percy had a very red face at this point.

"You know I can be smart right? And that I am sitting right here?" MP asked Travis and Conner.

"Ya, but Annie does everything on your quests that involve smarts."

With this comment Annabeth decided to step in.

"First, do not EVER call me Annie. And second, Percy is actually very smart. He was the one who figured out the thing with Ares, the hotel, the water beds, getting into the under world, fighting a ton of monsters, and not to mention that that is only part of the first quest." Very one was stunned listening to what she had to say. Nobody knew what had happened on any of his quests because of his modesty.

"That was his first quest?" Hazel squeaked out.

"**Yes." Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because…"**

"**Well…" I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"**

"Wow Percy, you know, there is probably going to be a lot of great black mail in this"

"**God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

"**Titan," I corrected myself. "And…he didn't trust his kids, who where the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right?** **But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

"**Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"—**and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continues, "and the gods won."**

**Some snickers from the group.**

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**

Shifting in his seat, Apollo said, "You know, if any of you ever own a business, you should put that down"

"**And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss. Bobofit's excellent question, dos this matter in real life?"**

"Busted," Jason sang.

"**Busted," Grover muttered.**

"Ha ha! Jason thinks like a goat!"

"**Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

"**I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lean us back outside?"**

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other and acting like doofuses.**

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**  
**I knew that was coming.**  
**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything."**

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**  
**"About the Titans?"**

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**  
**"Oh."**  
**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

"Thank goodness for that," everyone muttered. Now the gods looked confused

"Why do you say that? He's not that important is he? I mean, he is just a guy." Artimis asked.

"To be completely honest my lady, Percy manages to change your mind when he saves you from a titan and holds up the sky." No one could say anything to that, so Poseidon kept reading.

**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

"Awesome" Leo whispered.

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**

Chiron sighed. "She was such a fine young lady," He swished his tail back and forth thinking about her.

**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"What's going on" Hazel questioned, and sadly didn't receive an answer besides your typical, "You will see".

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers.**

**Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse,** **and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

"Did you really think that?" I asked the boy curled up at my side. He nodded a little glumly. I rubbed his back comfortingly as MA came and sat over by us.

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"I love Sally," Poseidon said a little wistfully, interrupting him self. Aphrodite looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

"That is so cute!" She gushed.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

"Idea!" Leo sang, whipping out his handy dandy notebook and jotted it down.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

"Jerk"

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**

"Man, I didn't know you could describe things so well." MP grinned a little sheepishly.

"Well, my mom says that I could be a really great writer if I didn't have dyslexia and ADHD. So instead I help her with her books"

**I tried to stay cool.**

**The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

"That is awesome!" Piper said in awe. She had heard lots about Percy, but has never learned any details.

**I didn't know what they were talking about.**

**All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

**I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Never guess your punishment: rule number 12" Hermes, Apollo, Conner, Travis and Leo all recited.

"You have a rule book?"

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"Literally," Grover muttered. At this people started to get nervous for him. They knew he was capable, but didn't like the idea of him fighting a monster with out knowing about being a demigod first.

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—will—stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"Which is absolutely freaky," Nico stated. Everyone was curious as to why he was on the receiving end to one of those, but Poseidon had hardly paused, to nervous to stop.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.**

**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop. But apparently that wasn't the plan. I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman for us, the gallery was empty. Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing.**

**I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil. She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

"Is Percy being polite?" I gasped. Every one nodded in agreement. I looked down expecting to see MP face a bright shade of red, but instead I found him deep asleep.

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"Now I have to make him read it don't I?" Annabeth questioned. "Good girl" Athena nodded.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

**Then things got even stranger.**

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**  
**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air. Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes. My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword. She snarled, "Die, honey!" And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword. The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water.**

**Hisss!**

**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**  
**I was alone.**  
**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**  
**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

Everyone let out a breath they didn't know they had been holding.

"His first monster was a fur- I mean, a kindly one?" Katie asked. Her first one she had had help with and it was only a hellhound.

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"Katie can I-"

"no" Katie immediately cut Travis off before gesturing for they=m to continue.

**Had I imagined the whole thing? I went back outside. It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

**I said, "Who?"**

**"Our teacher. Duh!"**

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away. I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?"**

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"Grover, your screwing up every thing the mist just did!"

**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious." Thunder boomed overhead. I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved. I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperon. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**

"Wow that is harsh. I wonder how he coped with the rest of the year?"

"Well, there is only one way to find out now wh-" Annabeth was interrupted by leo.

"Well technically there is three ways to find out, but what ever." The last part he said a little hesitantly, shrinking away hrom her glare.

"I will read," Katie said, taking the book that was handed to her. "Chapter 2…"

**Please Review:) tell me what I did right and what I need to improve on...**


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